5.

Methods of Analysis for Earthquake Resistant Design:

* Design Basic Earthquake:

In the earthquake-resistant design, it can’t be possible to make the structure absolutely earthquake proof
that will not suffer any damage during the rarest of the earthquakes. A fully earthquake-proof structure will be
very huge and highly expensive. Instead an attempt shall be made that the structure should be able to withstand
the minor earthquakes that take place frequently in that region. Moreover, the structure should be able to resist
the moderate earthquakes called design basis earthquakes (DBE), without significant structural damages. Such
earthquakes occur once during the life time of structure. Even a major earthquake called maximum considered
earthquake (MCE) with intensity greater than that of the design basis earthquake would not be able to cause
collapse of the properly designed and constructed structure and losses would be limited.

5.1 Principles of Earthquake Resistant Design:

The general philosophy of earthquake resistant building design is that:  

a. For minor earthquakes—there should be no damage.

b. For moderate earthquake—there may be minor, repairable, structural damage and some non-structural
damage.
c. For major earthquake—there may be major, un-repairable, structural and non-structural damage but
without collapse of the building.

*Pseudo-static earthquake:

Earthquakes cause dynamic loading on the structures. However, for the design of earthquake-resistant
structures, the dynamic analysis is usually not carried out. Instead a pseudo-static analysis shall be employed in
which the earthquake forces are replaced by equivalent static forces. These forces are considered in addition to
the normal loads on the structure for its design. It is assumed that the forces due to earthquake are not likely to
occur simultaneously with other occasional forces such as wind loads, maximum flood forces or maximum sea
wave forces.

5.2 Equivalent Lateral Load Procedure:

Equivalent lateral load procedure is the simplest method of analysis and requires less computation effort
because the loads depend on the code based fundamental period of structures with some empirical modifier. The
design base shear shall first be computed as a whole and then distributed along the height of the buildings based
on simple formulas appropriate for buildings with regular distribution of mass and stiffness. The design lateral
loads obtained at each floor level shall then be distributed to individual lateral load resisting elements depending
upon the diaphragm action. The following are the major steps for determining the forces by equivalent static
procedures:

Determination of Base Shear:

The total design lateral load or design base shear along any principal direction shall be determined by the
following expression, Clause 7.5 of IS 1893 ( Part 1): 2002.

VB = AhW

Where,

Ah = Design horizontal seismic coefficient for a structure

W= Seismic weight of building

Ah = (Z/2)(I/R)(Sa/g)

Note: The value of Ah will not be taken less than Z/2 whatever the value of (I/R).

In factor (Z/2), Z is the Zone factor given in Table 2 of IS 1893 ( Part 1): 2002, for the Maximum Considered
Earthquake ( MCE) and service life of structure in a Zone. The factor 2 in the denominator of Z is used so as to
reduce the Maximum Considered Earthquake (MCE) zone factor to the factor for Design Basic Earthquake (DBE).
The value of Z ranges from 0.10 to 0.36 corresponding to zone II to zone V.

In factor (I/R), I is the importance factor, depending upon the functional use of structures, characterized by
hazardous consequences of its failure, post earthquake functional needs, historic value, or economic importance.
The minimum values of importance factor are given in Table 6 of Is 1893 (Part 1):2002.

R is the response reduction factor, depending on the perceived seismic damage performance of the structure,
characterized by ductile or brittle deformations. This characteristic represents the structure’s ductility, damping as
well as the past seismic performance of structure with various structural framing systems. The values of R are
prescribed in Table 7 of IS 1892 (Part 1): 2002 for different types of building systems.

Sa/g is the Average response acceleration coefficient for rock and soil sites as given by Figure 2 of IS 1893 ( Part
1):2002 and by the equations describe in clause 6.0 for different soil condition based on appropriate natural
periods of the structure. These values are given for 5% of damping of the structure; for other value of damping it is
modified according to Table 3 of IS 1893 (Part 1): 2002.

The fundamental natural period for buildings are given in Clause 7.6 of IS 1893 (Part 1): 2002 and it is
summarized as:

Ta = 0.075h0.75 For moment resisting RC frame building without brick infill walls

Ta = 0.085h0.75 For moment resisting steel frame building without brick infill walls

Ta = 0.09h√d All other buildings including moment resisting RC frame building with brick infill walls.

h = height of the building in m

d = base dimension of building at plinth level in m, along the considered direction of lateral force.

W= Seismic weight of building which is the sum of the seismic weight of floors. The seismic weight at any floor
level would be equal to dead weight of the floor system plus weight of column and walls in inverse proportion to
its distance from the floors plus appropriate amount of imposed load as specified in Clause 7.3 of IS 1893(Part 1):
2002. Imposed load on roof level need not be considered. The basic reasons for considering the percentage of live
load as specified in Table 8 of IS 1893(Part 1): 2002 are: i) only a part of the maximum live load will probably be
existing at the time of earthquake, ii) non-rigid mounting of the live load absorbs part of the earthquake energy
and iii) specified live load include as part of it, impact effect of the loads which need not be considered since
earthquake act on the mass only.